Penetration resistant garment

Abstract

A penetration resistant garment that may be comfortably worn by a user while offering protection against injury from a penetrating object, such as a water jet for example, includes a plurality of light-weight, rigid, discrete penetration resistant sections cooperating with and arranged relative to one another to provide a flexible garment. The sections may be layered in an overlapping manner to provide substantially complete coverage extending over an area of desired coverage. Also, a length of the garment may be less than a sum of the lengths of the individual sections.

What is claimed is:  
     
       1. A penetration resistant garment comprising: 
       a plurality of rigid penetration resistant panels cooperating with and arranged relative to one another to provide substantially complete coverage over an area of desired coverage, each said panel comprising  
       a penetration resistant fabric,  
       a hardening material being disposed upon said penetration resistant fabric, said hardening material being epoxy, and  
       a crystalline material adhered to said hardening material, said crystalline material being selected from the group of materials consisting of ceramic, garnet, metal, silicon carbide, aluminum oxide and diamond, said crystalline material has a mesh size of about approximately 150 or finer, said penetration resistant fabric being woven of high tenacity yarn with a fiber strength greater than 8 grams per denier and less that 10% elongation at break.